“A manual for writing a whore poem”
«A manual for writing a whore poem” is an anthology of texts and caricatures by ICORN guest writers living in Norway. The anthology is, as the title indicates, bilingual. For the third time, the Norwegian chapter of PEN International has initiated such an anthology, and for the second time it is being published in collaboration with the Communicatio publishing house.
«A manual for writing a whore poem” contains contributions from twelve guest writers, and one internationally recognized cartoonist. Editors for the anthology are Iranian Soudabeh Alishahi, who was the first City of Refuge writer in Oslo, and Asbjørn Øverås, daily editor
for translated literature at Aschehoug publishing house. Both editors are members of the board of Norwegian PEN.
The anthology includes both poetry and prose. The texts often reflect a different reality, more violent and dangerous – although ordinary
in a global context, than that ordinarily reflected by contemporary Norwegian writers, shaped as most of them are in a secure welfare society.
The guest writers also represent other storytelling cultures, literary styles and language and rhetorical grips than what is traditionally used in Norwegian literature. In short they bring the world to Norwegian readers, and represent important contributions to the multicultural Norwegian contemporary literature.
